The Death of Elizabeth Swann
by TheMuleteer
Summary: The moment the two slipped beneath the waves, she felt herself die with them. A companion piece to Death of Captain Jack Sparrow. MAJOR DMC spoilers, with a lot of sad JE. R&R, please.
1. The Death of Elizabeth Swann

Author's Note: This is a really kinda dark fic I wrote while listening to "Hello Beastie" on the Pirates II Soundtrack, and I've updated it with editing with regards to the film. The idea struck me as, 'why not do a duology perspective of the end of the Pearl?' This is Part II of II. Part I, called "The Death of Captain Jack Sparrow" is posted both here and singularly. Revel in my sad, dark thoughts, and review, please.

This is the death of Elizabeth Swann:

She hears Jack Sparrow say, "Abandon ship." She knows it must kill him to say the words.

"She's only a ship, mate. Abandon ship." Then the crew scurries to the longboats, taking what supplies they will need. Then she is torn.

Part of her wants to believe that Jack will stay on the ship to save them. Part of her believes he will not. Part of her wants him to come with them. To come away with her.

What happens next is a blur to her. She walks forward, takes Sparrow in her arms, and kisses him. As she does it, she realizes that she had been with the wrong man all along. But she is resolved to do this. And she does.

She drives Jack back, back, until she gets to the mast, and, as he would say, seizing the opportune moment, claps the irons shut on his wrist.

She realizes that she's just betrayed him. And how deeply that must hurt him.

She tries to explain it to him. "It's after you. Not the ship, not us." Though as she says it, she realizes it's not true; _he ran off on that rowboat, and it still attacked the ship rather than him. But it was occupied with getting us, then; best not to take chances, especially with Jack. _

The inherent cruelty of that thought is just one more drop of poison in her veins to add to the vial that is already there from just doing this.

"This is the only way, don't you see?" She tries to rationalize once more, but it does no good; for him or for her.

"I'm not sorry," she lies. She feels a bucket full of poison enter her for that fib. She is dying inside. But she cannot take it back; she _can't_.

But Jack, bless his heart, through his pain and betrayal, understands. He simply smiles humorlessly, and says, "Pirate."

She can't be here anymore. She goes to the longboat, and, fighting against the anguish trying to kill her inside, gets in.

She looks at Will, who says rather oddly, "Where's Jack?"

She doesn't understand why he is so...she can't quite find a word for it; _did he see us? But I could not tell him the truth; it would hurt him more_. "He elected to stay behind, to give us a chance." She sees the uncertainty in Gibbs and the crew; not at her words, but at the prospect of abandoning Jack to death once more. "Go!" She cannot keep the anguish from cracking her voice as she orders Marty to let go of the line.

She feels the pain come coursing in through her body as they row away. She watches through red, tear-filled eyes as the Kraken wraps itself around the _Black Pearl_, and then...

She's gone.

And so is Captain Jack Sparrow.

And so is Elizabeth Swann.

She's dead.

Elizabeth is really only a corpse as they row to Tia Dalma's village. Certainly, she breathes, she is aware of the water rocking them, of the bad food she must eat on the way, but she only _exists_. She does not _live_.

Elizabeth Swann would never have done that to a man, especially not Jack, the man she—

Did she? No, she didn't love Jack. She couldn't. _But then, why am I so dead inside?_

As they row somberly through the sad mist of the village, she sees a sight to see.

The people of the village are out, waist-deep in the water, all holding candles, watching them silently.

It is a candle vigil for Jack Sparrow.

When they go inside, Elizabeth moves to a seat, and withdraws.

She sits on her stool in Tia Dalma's home, silently killing herself inside. She'd betrayed and killed the man she—

_Did_ she love him? And if she did, what of Will?

Then, as Will monotonously thwacks his father's knife into the table over and over, Tia Dalma comes out, silently offering rum, knowing what they'd gone through. She begins to refuse, when Tia explains. "Against de cold...an' de sorrow." She quietly takes her mug as Dalma moves to kneel beside Will understandingly, saying, "It's a shame. I know you're thinking that with the _Pearl_, you could have captured the devil and set free your father's soul."

Taking a mug, Will mutters, "Doesn't matter now. The _Pearl_ is gone, along with its captain." The blade lodges in the table its last time as he speaks.

Gibbs turns back in the doorway to face them, and says sadly, in a voice too deep and lost to be his own, "Aye. And already the world seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all right till the end, but I guess that honest streak finally won out." He accepts Tia's drink, as Elizabeth bows her head in utmost shame. "To Jack Sparrow," he toasts in a low voice.

"Never another like Cap'n Jack," Ragetti says, choking on the words from sad tears from his one eye.

"He was a gentleman of fortune, he was," Pintel adds, raising his glass.

"He was a good man," Elizabeth finishes, barely keeping the tears out of her voice, feeling the gut-wrenching emotion from his name. As the others drink, she cannot, knowing that this noble end was one she'd resigned him to. She feels Will's eyes on her, ignoring them as the tears freely come now, misery overcoming her. She feels so dead inside without him, now. Then she truly knows. She really did lo—

"If there was anything could be done to bring him back..." Will begins. She looks at him. She may be wrong, but he may have just started to say that he isn't the one for her. That Jack is—was.

Jack.

The man she betrayed.

The man she killed.

The man she _loved_.

The pain almost overwhelms her as she looks at Will, rising, saying "Elizabeth..." Noble man; he loved her so dearly that were it possible, he would give her up for her happiness rather than his own.

Tia Dalma cuts him off. "Would ye do it? Hm?" Elizabeth looks up at the tone in her voice. "What would you...hm?" As she moves towards Elizabeth, "What would any of you be willing to do, hm? Would you sail to the ends of the Earth and beyond to fetch back witty Jack, and him precious _Pearl_?"

"Aye." Gibbs stands.

"Aye," Pintel agrees.

"Aye." Ragetti.

As Cotton raised his mug, his parrot squawked, "Aye."

"Yes," Elizabeth says softly.

"Aye" says Will, in the quietest voice of them all.

"All right," Dalma grins her toothy grin. "But if ye go and brave the weird an' haunted shores at World's End, then you will need a captain who knows those waters."

She looks up the stairs. As does everyone else. Elizabeth moves forward first.

Inside, she realizes, _Jack can be saved_.

As Barbossa comes down the steps, and says, "So tell me, what's become of my ship?" Elizabeth comes alive once more. She is resurrected. She can save Jack. And, no matter what it takes, she _will_.

This is the death and resurrection of Elizabeth Swann.


	2. The Death of Captain Jack Sparrow

Author's Note: This is a really kinda dark fic I wrote while listening to "Hello Beastie" on the Pirates II Soundtrack, and I've updated it with editing with regards to the film. The idea struck me as, 'why not do a duology perspective of the end of the _Pearl_?' This is Part I of II. Part II, called "The Death of Elizabeth Swann" will be posted both here and singularly. Revel in my sad, dark thoughts, and review, please.

This is the death of Captain Jack Sparrow:

"Abandon ship. Into the longboat."

With those five words, the beginning of the end is sparked. Something inside Jack just dies. The spark goes out. It is like being stabbed with a dagger for Jack.

"Jack..." Gibbs does not understand. "The _Pearl_...?"

His next five words twist the dagger. "She's only a ship, mate."

"He's right, we have to head for land," Elizabeth agrees sadly.

"It's a lot of open water," Pintel notes warily.

"It's a lot of _water_," Ragetti simplifies.

"We have to try," Will says, an equal tone of dismay in his own voice. "We can get away as it takes down the _Pearl_."

Gibbs nods gruffly. "Abandon ship. Abandon ship or abandon hope."

As the order is given, the crew moves to the boats. All but Jack. Inwardly, he sobs, cries for forgiveness. He stands, lost, as he surveys the deck of his beautiful _Pearl_ for the last time, pacing slowly. Then he knows. _I cannot go; I can't leave with them. The Kraken wants me and the _Pearl_. Well, the beast will get us both, then. Captain goes down with his ship_, he thinks dourly.

Behind him, he hears, "Thank you, Jack." Elizabeth. _Lizzie. Good Lizzie-beth, the bonnie lass, ol' whatserface_, he thinks humorlessly.

He turns to face her, seeing some pride in her face as she looks at him. He says, "We're not free yet, love."

"You came back," she smiles. "I always knew you were a good man."

Then she presses her lips onto his. Surprised, but not displeased, Jack allows her to push him backwards across the rubble-strewn deck, backing him into the mast.

Then she rips the dagger out and sticks it back in.

The irons click on his wrist, trapping him there. For the second time in his life, Jack is betrayed by someone he trusts. Strangely, this hurts far more than Barbossa's betrayal ever did.

"It's after you; not the ship, not us." Elizabeth looks into Jack's eyes. Within, Jack feels true emotions; hurt, pain, sadness, wan humor, and a little bit of regret...perhaps, deep down, he really does have feelings for Lizzie after all. _But now, I'll never find out, will I?_

"This is the only way, don't you see?" As her voice breaks midway through her rationalizations, he knows. She leans in closer, as if to kiss him once more, but she stops herself, saying only, "I'm not sorry." But Jack looks into her eyes, and sees the torment, pain, and sadness this places her in.

Jack only grins softly, and says one word: "Pirate." Then she is gone.

For the longest time, Jack stands there, until he suddenly comes to his senses.

_I am Captain Jack Sparrow; I will _not_ die like this._

He begins to tug at the chains, hoping that the rusty old things will break. They won't. He begins to curse a string. "Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger!" Then there is a rumbling as the ship shifts. _The Kraken_. As items roll by, he eyes the lantern a few feet away.

He draws his sword and, straining himself, reaches it, loops the sword tip through the loop, and smashes it against the wood he is chained to. He grins in triumph as the slick fuel drips over his hand.

He begins to tug at his hand, trying to slide it through the irons. It _really_ isn't interested in his idea. Grimacing in pain, he mutters, "Come on! Just got it. Come ON!" Struggling, he wriggles his hand free of the irons. He rubs his sore wrist from the pain, grinning in his small triumph.

Then he senses something behind him. The grin falls. He turns.

The Kraken roars.

There, as Gibbs had so eloquently described it, is the reeking stench of a thousand decaying corpses, plus a couple other things that Jack isn't interested in identifying. Globules of cream-colored spittle fly out and coat Jack's face and outfit. As this happens, something makes a 'thunk' noise nearby.

Finally, the thing runs out of breath. After shaking as through throwing off a case of the heebie-jeebies, Jack regards the spittle as he removes it from his face. "Not so bad," he says, thinking of the breath.

"Oh." The 'thunk' had been the return of his hat. Jack really does not want to know how it ended up in the Kraken's belly, and probably will never find out.

He reaches down, and picks it up. He swings it back and forth a bit to shake off the spit on it. He then firmly affixes it on his head.

Now he is ready for action. He grins, and draws his sword.

"Hello, beastie," Jack greets the monster. He remembers a few days ago; he remembers the look in Lizzie's eyes when she looked at him. He remembers the way she almost kissed him. He remembers how close he came to giving in. He remembers how, in that moment, he realized how he truly loved her. And he remembers the words Elizabeth said to him.

"You will have the chance to do something...something courageous. And you do, you'll discover something. That you're a good man...Oh, I have faith in you. Want to know why?...Curiosity. You're going to want it. A chance to be admired..." The girl was right after all.

His only regret is not being able to tell her he loves her. To never see her again. What he would give for her voice to come to him now, what he would give for her to inadvertently show how much she cared, to see her beautiful, elusive smile, just one more time...

Charging forward, he feels as though he is in slow motion. He brings his sword to the ready, lunging toward the monster. It willingly moves forward to take him.

The creature comes forward.

He swings.

Then he and the _Black Pearl_ are gone.

This is the death of Captain Jack Sparrow.


End file.
